Wednesday, January 6, 2016

The Best Seller She Wrote: Book Review

Paperback king, Aditya Kapoor’s life is straight out of a modern man’s fantasy. His literary stardom is perfectly balanced by a loving wife and a spectacular career. With everything he touches turning to gold, Aditya is on a winning streak.

Shreya Kaushik is a student with a heart full of ambition. Young, beautiful, and reckless, Shreya speaks her mind and obsessively chases after what she wants. And what she wants is to be a bestselling author.

What happens when their worlds collide? Is it possible to love two people at the same time? Can real ambition come in the way of blind passion? Can trust once broken, be regained?

Master storyteller Ravi Subramanian, delves into the glitzy world of bestsellers and uncovers a risky dalliance between a superstar novelist and his alluring protégé.

The Bestseller She Wrote is a combustible cocktail of love, betrayal and redemption.

Reviewing is such a tough job to do. I like reading books for entertainment sake, not for tearing it into parts looking for spelling errors and plot holes. I confess, I am not an ideal reviewer.

Being an author myself I know how difficult it is to write a full-length novel. I admire any book for the sheer determination and hard work that went into its creation. And reviews are like 'manna' for an author. A good review is like the sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day. And some reviewers tend to be needlessly harsh on some authors like they have some vendetta.I was surprised to see 1star reviews pouring on Amazon for a Chetan Bhagat book even days prior to its release. What can one say about such blatant hatred?

Anyway, many have asked me the criteria on which I rate books that I read.

My rating criteria goes like this:

5 Star: A good plot, well written, well edited and kept me entertained throughout.

4 Star: A good plot, written well but had few grammar errors which could have been avoided and also had certain things (maybe characters or plot twists) that didn't cater to my liking.

3 Star: A good plot, started fine, dragged off the path somewhere and then came back to the line with a satisfying ending.

2 Star: Gave high hopes through blurb and advertisements, then failed completely to keep my interest. 2 stars to the author alone for his/ her hard work in putting together the words in an effort to tell the story.

1 Star: Should I even explain?

Going by my record on Goodreads, I think I have not given 2 or 1 star to any book. Mostly because I don't finish reading books that don't entertain me.

So how did this book fare?

My review:

Ravi has deviated from his usual thrillers to write in a new genre with this book. That too romance. But in my opinion, he has done justice to it by telling the story of a writer who is also a banker like himself thus managing to bring authenticity into the characters that he created.

A best-selling author who is content with a life of fame, happy family and a satisfying day job. Enter a girl, and it turns chaotic. Not an unfamiliar storyline. But add a thriller undertone and it becomes interesting.

As usual, Ravi's characters have negative traits loaded in them and belong to the overly ambitious group. Aditya and Shreya doesn't blink before uttering a lie. So does Sanjay though it is often to help his friend Aditya. They have lost touch with their humane side lost in the pursuit of worldly ambition and lust.

Frankly speaking, if they existed in real life, I would not wish to belong in their friend circle. Maya is the grace of the book I felt. She represents the common Indian wives, who often trusts their men but takes on the avatar of the angry Goddess if she finds herself cheated.

Ravi has explained the world of publishing and many inside details that make the book more interesting. The glitz that surrounds the life of a best-selling author who rakes in money is given good detailing. He also puts forth his many philosophies regarding his attitude towards writing as a craft through the many dialogues.

The character of Shreya, I disliked from the beginning. Mostly because I don't like head strong girls like her who wouldn't hesitate before humiliating somebody saying they are speaking the truth. Most of them are attention seekers and mostly selfish to the core. My dislike coloured my prejudice. As expected, the story proceeded the way I had thought how she would behave at every point of the story and I think that is something that the author has to be congratulated for. The characters are drawn finely.

The characters of Sanjay, Diana and Dr. Krishnan are also extremely interesting as the many twists were orchestrated by them.

The love scenes were not to my liking. If Ravi wants to continue writing in this genre I think he should follow the example of Nicholas Sparks. I like the way he writes beautiful romances that often glues you to the chair and has a mystery or crime thriller undertone.

Also, the first half of the story could have been tightened a bit.

All is well that ends well. As to that, the climax where the author tied everything up was impressive. The final speech at the book launch was very good indeed. All in all, I enjoyed the book very much.

Verdict: 4 out of 5

Rating is according to the explanation I gave above.

(I was not a fan of some characters especially Shreya!)

You can also know more about the book and the author through these links: